Ulster's Stand For Union eBook

There was only one way in which such communication
could be managed, and that way Crawford now took with
characteristic promptitude and energy. The Clydevalley
crossed the Irish Sea to Fishguard, where he took
train on Sunday night to London and Yarmouth, having
first made arrangements with the skipper for keeping
in touch. But there was no trace of the Fanny
at Yarmouth, and no word from Agnew at the Post Office.
There appeared to be no solution of the problem, and
every precious hour that slipped away made ultimate
failure more menacing. But at two o’clock
the outlook entirely changed. A second visit to
the Post Office was rewarded by a telegram in code
from Agnew saying all was well, and that he would
be at Holyhead to pick up Crawford on Tuesday evening.
There was just time to catch a London train that arrived
in time for the Irish mail from Euston. On Tuesday
morning Crawford was pacing the breakwater at Holyhead,
and a few hours later he was discussing matters with
Agnew in the little cabin of the Clydevalley.

The latter had amply made up for the loss of time
caused by some misunderstanding as to the rendezvous
at the Tuskar, for he was able to show Crawford, to
his intense delight, that the cargo had all been safely
and successfully transferred to the hold of the Clydevalley
in a bay on the Welsh coast, mainly at night.
Some sixteen transport labourers from Belfast, willing
Ulster hands, had shifted the stuff in less than half
the time taken by Germans at Langeland over the same
job. There was, therefore, nothing more to be
done except to steam leisurely to Copeland, for which
there was ample time before Friday evening. The
Fanny had departed to an appointed rendezvous
on the Baltic coast of Denmark.

It was now the turn of the Clydevalley to yield
up her obscure identity, and to assume an historic
name appropriate to the adventure she was bringing
to a triumphant climax—­a name of good omen
in Ulster ears. Strips of canvas, 6 feet long,
were cut and painted with white letters on a black
ground, and affixed to bows and stern, so that the
men waiting at Copeland might hail the arrival of the
Mountjoy II.

Off Copeland Island a small vessel was waiting, which
Agnew recognised as a tender belonging to Messrs.
Workman & Clark. The men on board, as soon as
they could make out the name of the approaching vessel,
understood at once, and raised a ringing cheer.
Two of them were seen gesticulating and hailing the
Mountjoy. Crawford, suspecting fresh orders
to retreat, paid no attention, and told Agnew to hold
on his course; and even when presently he was able
to recognise Mr. Cowser and Mr. Dawson Bates on board
the tender, and to hear them shouting that they had
important instructions for him, he still refused to
let them come on board. “If the orders
are not signed by Sir Edward Carson,” he shouted
back, “you can take them back to where they came
from.” But the orders they brought had
been signed by the leader, a special messenger having
been sent to London to obtain his signature, and the
change of plan they indicated was, in fact, just what
Crawford desired. The bulk of the arms were to
be landed at Larne, the port he had always favoured,
and lesser quantities were to be taken to Bangor and
Donaghadee.